The left wing of the Germans gave battle on Sunday, September 6. The fighting began at daybreak, and continued with unprecedented fury until dark. The artillery fire went beyond anything the history of warfare has hitherto recorded. Shells were timed to be falling at the rate of thirty in thirty seconds. I have this from a trustworthy source. In this day’s fighting the French guns were served with undeniable superiority. The loss they inflicted upon the Germans can never be approximately estimated. The total loss of the Germans is placed at figures so high I hesitate to record them. One hundred thousand, of whom 20,000 were killed. This estimate is made by a trained observer, who was on the battlefield before the dead had been touched. It must be remembered that the German army was advancing on a front nearly forty miles in extent, and the country north-east of Sezanne is the most treacherous in all France. Acres upon acres of marsh lands line the valleys. Here it was the enemy suffered most. But the French also made the most severe sacrifices. A certain corps was practically wiped out of existence. Spurred by the knowledge that they were fighting for the very existence of Paris, each French soldier was as three. Against the desperate resistance they made the Germans could do nothing. When the night of September 6 closed down neither army could claim much advantage in position gained. The French had made certain gains, but then they had also fallen back at points. An enormous quantity of ammunition had been used up. The total artillery expenditure is put at 4,000 shells. Hundreds of caissons were empty. Then, on the night of September 6–7, came the German retreat. The long line was giving way, not only on the right towards Paris, but also on the left, where there seems to have been heavy fighting about Verdun. It has been suggested that there was a breakdown on the transport service in this direction. If this were the case, after the enormous expenditure of ammunition during the first day of action, the Crown Prince’s army would have been obliged to fall back or be captured. The circumstances of their precipitate flight incline me to the last explanation. Of course, the fighting on this wing continued for several days, but the Germans were only trying to save what was left of a badly crippled army from complete destruction. With the Crown Prince retreating, there was nothing left for von Kluck’s and von Bülow’s armies but to execute the same manœuvre. This brought about the battle of the Aisne and all the subsequent fighting. In the fighting the French have been uniformly successful. It goes without saying that the English troops contributed largely to this success. Their bravery has passed into proverb throughout France.